Don't Die Part 2

NOTE: this is a continuation of my story ‘Don’t die’. I probably won’t do another continuation again, I just thought it would make the most sense instead of writing a completely different story about the same topic.

*This is from Christina’s point of view*

I didn’t even know her name. 

Why did I care so much? I gave up on caring. I said I wasn’t going to. Ever since…

A pain different from my physical injuries struck me. 

Why was I screaming like a madman? Why was I running around with a bloody body handing it to everyone in sight begging one thing? 

“FIX IT!” Felix stared at me as I pushed the body into his outstretched hands. 

“I’m not a doctor, Chris,” His voice was soft. It became obvious at that moment that he saw me as a child. I wanted to shoot him in the eye, he wouldn’t think I was a child then. 

He must have seen the malice in my eyes for his hands raised in surrender, “Ask Liam, he knows his stuff,” 

Liam. “Hold it,” I snarled when he tried to hand the body back, “And come with me,” 

I raced through the base, knowing this place like the back of my hand, and into Liam’s lab, “LIAM!”

A curly-haired boy with a skin problem looked up in response to his name. He saw my fuming form and quickly looked the other way pretending he didn’t hear me. 

Was he seriously going to play this game with me? 

“Liam,” I said through gritted teeth, “You’re the only one in here, I know you can hear me,”

He sighed and hobbled over, “What can I help with?”

“Fix it,” I commanded, pointing to the body in Felix’s hands.  

He grinned impishly, “I seemed to have forgotten how to be a doctor...maybe you can offer me  something to help jog my memory..?”

In two seconds flat he was on the ground and I was on top of him, “It depends,” I snarled, “Will some blunt force trauma help?” 

“No!” He squirmed into a defensive position, “I’m sorry! Ok, I’ll help!” I got off of him, “What happened?” He asked going full doctor.

“She just...collapsed,” I explained trying to gauge his reaction. 

Liam grabbed her hand, held it over her face, and dropped it. It hit her face with a smack. 

I punched him in the face, ignoring Felix’s alarmed yelp, and screamed, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” 

He cringed away from me, “I’m just seeing if she’s unconscious!” I dropped back.  

“You do that again….” I didn’t feel the need to finish the threat.  

He nodded vigorously, “Put her on the table,” 

Felix shuffled forward and I held a hand out to stop him. I had to make sure of something first, “This better not be a trap, If you need help remembering where the base is, I have plenty of memory jogging techniques,” I used the threat I had thought of before. I wasn’t scared for my safety, I could take care of myself. My eyes flickered to the limp form on the stretcher. Was I scared for her safety? 

“It’s not a trap,” He said quickly, “Trust me,” 

I snorted. I didn’t trust anyone. Not anymore. 

Felix stopped in response, “Don’t be scared, I know it’s scary, but I promise he isn’t going to hurt you,” 

“Shut up, Dad,” I could see the hurt I inflicted on him. I was the daughter that was taken from him, and I just kept reminding him.

The room had the same walls and lights as the hallway, but all the walls were lined with counters and there was a big table in the middle of it. The counters were full of all sorts of machinery, a dull hum filled the room. I assumed the machines were the cause. Liam walked over to us and scooped her up in his arms, another sound came from my throat as he placed her on the table. 

Felix eyed me with another reassuring look. I couldn’t deal with this, “Get out, Felix,” No one knew he was my dad, not that I ever called him that. 

Surprisingly he left the room without another word. 

“Can you fix her?” I demanded as soon as Felix left.

“I should be able to, yes,” He yanked open a cabinet and began to sift through it.

Something had been bothering me, “Earlier you tested to see if she was unconscious, correct?”

“Yes,”

“And is she...unconscious?” 

“It appears she just fainted, from exhaustion,” 

I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “Well, wake her up!”

He eyed me as his hand slowly grabbed her ankles. I narrowed my eyes but allowed him to continue, “Hold these twelve inches above her heart,” 

I watched as he made his way to the front of her body, “I’m going to cut some of her clothes off to help her breathe more, ok?” He pulled out a pocket knife.

A low growl came from my throat, “Let me do it,” He winced at my tone but nodded. 

I handed him her ankles and put the tip of the arrow at the dip in her tight-fit shirt, and slowly split it in half. I finished a cut in her pants that already existed. I gasped at her skin, she was covered in blood. 

He heard my gasp, “She’s not dead, see it’s still bleeding, wounds don’t bleed post-mortem,” 

Duh. “Stop the bleeding then!” In one swift movement, my shirt was off my head and pressed against the largest scrape I could find, the one down her side. 

Liam blinked twice at me, I bared my teeth, and he retreated, “Good keep pressure on it, we are going to need to clean it out so it doesn’t get infected…” He tore through the drawer again and came back up with a bottle of liquid and a rag. I watched as he poured the liquid onto the rag then he paused, with a worried look on his face. 

“What is it?” I demanded. What was wrong? Did she die? I instantly placed my hand on her bare chest, I could feel the thud of her heart. 

“Nothing nothing,” He assured me, “I just think you should let me bandage her up, you can go find a room to sleep in?” 

“I’m not leaving,” If there was a reason he wanted me to leave it must have been bad. 

“You stress me out,” 

“Great way to learn how to work under pressure,” 

“On the contrary, I’m more prone to mistake,” 

“And I’m more prone to attack,” 

“That’s not helping on the stress side of things,” 

“Will a memory jog?” 

He backpedaled “Your pretty convincing,” 

“So I’ve been told,” I glanced at her again, “is she fixed?” I was a little shocked when Liam’s head dipped. 

He sighed defeatedly, “Take her ankles back, I need to wrap her up,” I was surprised by the bitterness in his voice. 

I waited patiently as Liam became fully immersed in his work. It seemed like two seconds later that her whole body was wrapped up like a mummy. He handed me a new shirt and disposed of the bloody one. 

He finally stopped, looking triumphant. 

“Is she ok?”

“Yes,”

“Why isn’t she...awake?” 

He shrugged, “She’s asleep,” 

“Seriously?” She fell asleep?

“She ran like two miles, oh wait nevermind getting chased by a freaking giganotosaurus, with barely eating anything today, and got half of her body shredded for like two miles,” 

I winced at the reminder “So she’s just asleep?” 

“Yup,” 

“So why am I holding her ankles?” And why did you split her shirt? 

“I needed to keep your hands busy somehow,” He fiddled with the string of an old hoodie, “You would do anything to make sure she’s ok,” 

The rage I felt at the thought of being tricked, vanished, “What?” 

“I see the way you look at her,” I couldn’t even focus enough to try to decipher his expression, because I recognized those words, the same had been said to me when….

No. 

No. 

I was not going through this again. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I screamed. I know somewhere deep inside, Christina felt bad as Liam cowered away from me. Chris didn’t. 

I ran out of the room slamming the door behind me. 

I felt tears coming.

No. 

No. 

No.

I told myself I wasn’t going to do this again. Ever. 

I don’t cry. 

I don’t. 

Christina did. Christina was weak. 

Why am I now weak? 

I knew the difference, one I didn’t want to admit to myself.

I ran harder as if that would make a difference. Part of me enjoyed the pain of it. The burn of my legs, the tightening of my muscles. It was a pain I knew the cause of, one I could explain. The way to avoid it was to simply stop.

This other pain, I feared I knew the answer. I knew what was causing it. 

Her.

And like the pain of running, all I needed to do was stop.

~~~

It was amazing how quickly everyone moved on.

In three days, everything was back to normal. 

Our unit, unit 12, was up in the rotation for guard duty. 

Some days, I hated my unit. 

I was in the front. Felix and Liam walked side by side, Liam blabbering on about something random, and Felix was fascinated about the whole thing. Behind us….she walked. I didn’t realize how weird it was to not even know her name. We had been a unit for all of three weeks, somehow, we completely skipped introductions. 

I scanned the horizon for any sign of a dinosaur. 

I didn’t get why she was already back in the field! Liam was the medic in our unit, did he release her already? I risked a glance over my shoulder, she was still covered in bandages, her shirt only held together by a makes-shift knot in the center. Most of it was in shreds, she didn’t seem bothered by it. 

All units had one of everything. Liam was our medic (he also knew some fighting skills just in case), me and Felix were long-range, and...she was hand-to-hand combat, not that it was very helpful. 

Although there were tons of underground tunnels, they didn’t connect. The only way to get from one to the other was to go up top, we guarded those places. 

“Let’s split up,” she said, “Unit 17 is dead,” She ignored Felix and Liam’s gasps and continued, “We have to cover their places too,” 

The groups were pretty much made before they were made, Felix and Liam darted in the other direction, and she sped up to meet with me.

My instincts must be broken. 

I learned a bit about pain, no thanks to Liam. Pain is an important thing. It tells you what is damaged, what part of the body to help fixed before it gets even more messed up. 

Your instincts tell you to avoid the pain. 

Why couldn’t I just avoid this pain? 

I had never gotten a chance to really look at her. Her eyes were clear blue like...nothing was blue like that anymore, not the sky, not the water. That was the blue it wished it was, the blue it probably once was. Her hair was jet black to her shoulders, and she had a tiny scar across her cheek. 

“Your alive,” She noted. 

“What?” 

Alessia was slouching against the watchtower, arms crossed, a bored expression on her face. “You're not dead,” She repeated. 

“Am I supposed to be?” 

“Well, I expected you to be,” 

“Excuse me?!” Did she want me to be? 

“What happened to ‘what’s the point? I’m killing myself after this anyway,’?” 

I stared at her, shocked, I remember saying that, it seemed so long ago. What changed?

“Do you care all of a sudden?” I clearly remember her fine with it. I perfected my stance, narrowing my eyes trying to look as grown-up as possible. 

“Maybe I do,” 

“Amazing,” I breathed, “You value human life,” 

She scrunched up her nose like smelled something bad, “Not human life, your life,” 

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” I breathed. My heart began to pound.

“What do you think I am trying to say?” She took another step forward, her eyes never moving from mine, “What do you want me to say?” 

“No fair,” My voice was getting quieter, “That’s your question to answer,” 

“Hasn’t anyone told you? Life isn’t fair,” I could sense some bitterness. She knew this from experience. 

“I heard that somewhere, yeah,” I had the same bitterness. 

Another step, we were less than a foot away from each other now. 

“Do you believe that?” I asked. The more she talked, the closer she moved. I was making her talk more. Did that mean I wanted her to move closer? 

“Yes and no,” 

“What? How does that even-”

“People get what people deserve, there’s a fairness in that. But life also sucks,” 

“I don’t believe that,”

“Really? Last I remembered you wanted to skip the whole process,” 

“There’s a difference between wanting to die and your...metaphor-”

“It’s not a metaphor,” 

“Regardless,” I was finding it hard to string words together. My eyes slipped closed once again, “Life...sucks, but there are the good things that have the make it better, to make it worth living,”

“You of all people agree with that?” 

I knew what she was talking about, I pushed passed it, “No,” I admitted. 

She snorted, I felt it on my face. 

“I have to,” I murmured. 

She froze, half snort, “Because…?” 

“Well, so I don’t end up ‘skipping the whole process’,” 

Her breath caught, “You...wouldn’t dare,” 

“Is that a threat?” 

“Don’t joke about it,” I felt the slightest pressure on my cheek and had to fight all my instincts to keep still. It was her finger, “You wouldn’t, right?” 

“I might, just to spite you,” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. 

I expected a scolding, maybe a return joke, I was not expecting this, “Don’t, please,” Her voice was thick with emotion.

“I won’t,” I didn’t know if that was a lie or not. 

She sighed, “Good,” I didn’t realize how aware I was of her before she was gone. 

My eyes snapped open. She was back where she started, leaning against the watchtower, swinging a knife in her hands. 

I blinked but looked towards the horizon again, trying to organize my thoughts. 

Did I want to avoid her? 

That was probably the easiest to answer. No, I didn’t 

Why? 

That was kinda harder. 

I knew that people connected through trauma. I think being chased by a Giga fell into that category. 

Maybe that was why. 

I looked at her from the corner of my eye.

Yep, that made perfect sense. 

~~~

“There’s a megaraptor at the lake,” I slipped into our unit’s lunch table.   

Their heads instantly snapped up. 

“Hm?” Liam asked, “Megaraptor….those are the ones that eat fish?” 

“Yeah,”

“Did you tell them we would handle it?” Felix asked. 

I nodded, “Apparently they were impressed by our Giga stunt,” 

“Stunt?” It was the first time she had spoken. “It wasn’t a stunt, we almost died, you almost died,” She was pissed. 

“Easy Alessia,” Liam said. 

Alessia?

The name suited her. 

Alessia raised her eyebrows at Liam, he blushed. 

A strange feeling rose inside of me, almost a flare of anger. I recognized it, from somewhere long ago. 

No. 

I was getting better at blocking things out that I didn’t want to deal with. 

“Watch it, Liam,” ...Alessia hissed, “You weren’t there, you have no right-” 

“Alessia,” Felix interrupted, “You can stay, I understand you’re still hurt” 

She slammed her lunch tray on the table and glared at me, “Fine, we are staying, me and Chris,” She got up and marched off. 

I stared after her in wonder, “You heard her,” I whispered, “Go on, kill the thing,”  

So we were staying. 

~~~

“Hey!” I caught up to...Alessia, “Alessia,” I got a thrill saying her name for the first time, “Why did you want me to stay?” 

Alessia didn’t even look at me, “I’m injured,”

“Well, yeah,” I looked at the bandage still covering her, “But what does that have to do with me?”  

She stopped and turned to face me, “I can’t possibly save you if I’m hurt, can I?”

I froze, that was almost a compliment, “Don’t tell me, you’re worried about me,” 

“I won’t tell you then,” She turned and kept walking.

“Wait!” I raced ahead of her and stopped her with my hands, “What are you saying?” 

Her eyes narrowed, “Isn’t it obvious?” She pushed past me and vanished around a corner, “I like you,” 

What? 

My whole world seemed to spin. 

Alessia liked me? 

Did I like her back?